Month: February 2017

After completing the Holmes Rahe scale I had a score of 108, which falls into the relatively low stress level category over the past year. However, I don’t think that this is an accurate score on a personal level as I feel that I have definitely very stressed this year with certain things ,mainly university work, body image and eating problems and personal relationship problems. I do find the tool useful, however I think that the tool is only useful if the questions relate to you and your personal circumstances, I feel that the scale doesn’t take into consideration, wider issues that may be relevant today or things that may relate to older or younger people. I know that my score would be much, much higher if the questions were related to my situation or there was a wider range of questions related to mental health problems or factors that are more prominent in our society today such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, work loads on different age groups etc.

                I combat stress in different ways, sometimes I tackle it head on and sometimes I just crumble and cry. I mainly listen to music to combat stress, however, sometimes I like to go a walk or just take a break and watch some tv. I think that it also depends on the situation and how I’m feeling at the time as sometimes if its something that has really annoyed me I get very angry and snap at people which is not good and something I am trying to tackle to get rid of this emotional reaction or I try and just count to ten, If I am upset I try and count to ten or just like to be alone.

               

 

 

After reading the Pengilly & Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness I have discovered more about what causes stress and also found a few ways from today’s lecture and inputs that would help combat stress.

Firstly, 5 main factors which can negatively impact our health are; loneliness, lack of social support, normative life transitions, lack of human touch/contact and major life events.

 

Loneliness is when we feel alone even when we are surrounded by many friends or are in a room full of people. Loneliness can cause major effects and negative impacts on our health, both mentally and physically as it can manifest itself into depression, faults in our immune system, unhealthy lifestyle choice, and can make you more susceptible to illnesses. Loneliness should not be confused with being alone as being alone is a choice and literally means being on your own with no one else with you.

 

Lack of social support can cause negative effects in our health as we may not have people to talk to about our stress and needs and so we may end up feeling negative about ourselves and our situation. We need a social support in order to feel loved and better about ourselves as we have the reassurance from someone else. A lack of social support may lead to lower life expectancy, longer recovery times from surgery, more need for medication in certain illnesses such as depression or medication for surgery etc.

 

Normative life situations can have a negative effect on our health as we may be thinking about certain life events that we worry about such as retirement or work, these may cause us stress and negativity but not as much as non-normative life situations (things that we cannot predict) for example, a death, divorce losing a job etc. These situations can have a huge impact on our health such as neurotic impairment, coronary heart disease, cancer and many more body related illnesses.

 

A lack of touch/human contact can have a negative impact on our health because we are not physically engaging with or touching people close to us which is important for expressing emotions and fulfilling emotional needs and comfort. The positive effects of human touch on our health are quite significant as our blood pressure lowers, our stress levels decrease and we have reduced tension. So we can clearly see why a person would need thus human contact and how they would benefit from it.

 

Major life events can cause negative impacts on the body as this is very similar to non normative life situations. These events are often unpredictable and can cause great stress to the body/mind, illnesses and overall poor health.

 

Ways to combat stress/negative impacts on our health.

 

Physical exercise

Finding ways to cope, such as counting to 10. Reading, walking etc.

Religion/ spirituality/ following certain beliefs

Finding support systems you can trust and talk to such as friends and family etc

Finding ways to gain control over certain situations, i.e- stressed about exams- make a study timetable.

As part of today’s input and in order to develop a great understanding of stress factors we were asked to read Pengilly and Dowd (2000) journal based on the correlation of stress and hardiness. At some point in our lives it is inevitable that we will encounter a stressful event whether to be majorly life changing or an event that requires temporary or minor change to our way of life.

The journal examines the normal transitional of moving house and retirement to be crucial life changing events, but also the unexpected life changing events such as divorce and job redundancies/ loss. The journal also focuses on the stressors that we encounter can be connected to some illness and diseases. Likewise, there is can also be links between stressful events and depression/anxiety.

The journal also explains the Kobasa definition of ‘hardiness’ to be comprised of 3 C’s- ‘control’, ‘commitment’ and ‘challenge’. In other words, ‘hardiness’ can be defined as resilient. Kobasa expounds an individual who possess ‘hardiness’ to have positive outlook on stressful events, consider themselves to have the ability to make a difference and considers changes to be good. Alongside ‘hardiness’ it is important that we have strong social support around us, with people we can trust and can seek guidance, advice and can help us during times of stress.

The principle consensus of the journal article is individuals who lack ‘hardiness’ and social support have a higher possibility of developing depression, a factor of being stress. However, there is a range of methods that can combat stress such as breathing exercises, exercising, relaxing, being organised and in general having a healthy body and healthy mind.

After reading through the ‘Pengilly & Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness’ I have found that there are several factors which can have a negative effect on your health. Some of these factors include: normative life transitions, non-normative life transitions, lack of human contact/touch, loneliness and lack of social support.

To begin with, normative life transitions are life events which can be expected or predicted. Examples are retirement or moving home. These types of events can cause stress which impacts an individuals life negativity however, non-normative transitions are more likely to cause the most long-term damage.

Non-normative life transitions are life event which cannot be predicted such as divorce or loss of a job. Effects caused by non-normative life transitions include: neurotic impairment, coronary heart disease and cancer.

Human contact/touch is a necessary and vital part of basic human nature as it helps to show various emotions and allows for individuals to connect with others around them. There are many positive effects gained from human touch, some being: stronger hearts, lower blood pressure, decreased stress levels and overall reduced tension. However if someone isn’t exposed to human contact they do not receive the benefits therefore damaging their health in the long run.

Loneliness is a term often confused with alone. However, both are completely different. Being alone means in the literal sense whereas being lonely is the feeling that no matter how many people are around you, you still feel lonely. Loneliness can have negative effects on the health of individual as it can cause extreme depression, decreased immune system, promotion of unhealthy behaviours, excessive reactions to stress whilst also leaving the individual 4x more likely to get sick.

Social support is having someone there who you can talk to and who can help you through your problems and any other thing that is bothering you. These people can include however are not limited to: family, friends, colleagues, help lines, help groups, educational professionals, your partner etc. If there is a lack of social support, then the individual may experience damaging effects to their health. it may lead to: negative feeling towards themselves, higher levels of stress, decreased life expectancy, longer recovery times from surgery, increased need for medication in some chronic illnesses and the promotion of negative health practises.

Factors which can help in supporting a healthy lifestyle include:

• Religion and spirituality
• Family Support
• Physical fitness
• Coping mechanisms
• Sense of control

After todays input I have taken into consideration the factors that impact on our health and the methods that can be used to support a healthy lifestyle. Stress is an important aspect in todays society and can impact positive and negatively on a persons health. After having read ‘Stress Hardiness’ an article by Pengilly and Dowd (2000) it has highlighted the main components of stress and how these are caused by major life events either normative events such as moving house or non-normative events such as divorce.

One factor that can negatively impact on our health is job stress. Having troubles or being under pressure at work can lead to huge amounts of stress and constantly being buried under your work load. This can cause people to have problems with their adrenal and thyroid glands as well as increasing their heart rate. However, to be able to support this we must consider it as a challenge in order to succeed. Penally and Dowd(2000) believes that challenge is an opportunity for growth and that change is normal when it comes to being challenged. This will allow people to relieve their stress and feel it more as a goal rather than a stress.

Major life events such as getting divorced is an area of stress that can particularly cause a great amount of stress and loneliness. People may fail to particpate in certain social events or just feel  constantly down with no one to talk to. A method that could increase a healthy lifestyle in this situation is social support. Talking to a friend or family member and being able to trust them will greatly help in a time of loneliness. People will be able to listen and gain advice from someone who has went through a similar problems in their life.

People who have common mental disorders for example, anxiety this may impact negatively on ones health. Anxiety can lead to people becoming very self conscious and unwilling to do certain things as they feel they are constantly being watched or worried about what other people may think. A method to combat this is to gain a sense of control. Try to cope with how things can change quickly and learn to deal with situations more positively rather than negatively.

Age related stress is another category than can cause people stress and particuarly decrease their level of health when it comes to worrying about certain stages of their live such as retirement. People may worry tat once they retire they won’t have things to do and will be bored  without work. A stress buffer of this could be to maintain physical fitness and exercise to keep a healthy lifestyle as well as having something to do as a replacement of work.